Happy Thanksgiving--OCD Style

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cort, Caroline & I had a quiet dinner at home. It was the first year I haven't cooked in years. We ordered our meal from Whole Foods & WOW, was it good! I now see a whole lot of appeal in simplifying these holidays.


Anyway, we have a heck of a lot to be grateful for this year! Mainly that we have awesome friends & family. Especially family that does not resemble the author of the email below. I just had to share this with you all.....actually makes me feel like a Type B. Enjoy!

From: Marney

As you all know a fabulous Thanksgiving Dinner does not make itself. I need to ask each of you to help by bringing something to complete the meal. I truly appreciate your offers to assist with the meal preparation.

Now, while I do have quite a sense of humor and joke around all the time, I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS when I am providing you with your Thanksgiving instructions and orders. I am very particular, so please perform your task EXACTLY as I have requested and read your portion very carefully. If I ask you to bring your offering in a container that has a lid, bring your offering in a container WITH A LID, NOT ALUMINUM FOIL! If I ask you to bring a serving spoon for your dish, BRING A SERVING SPOON, NOT A SOUP SPOON! And please do not forget anything.

All food that is to be cooked should already be prepared, bring it hot and ready to serve, warm or room temp. These are your ONLY THREE options. Anything meant to be served cold should, of course, already be cold.

HJB—Dinner wine

The Mike Byron Family
1. Turnips in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. Please do not fill the casserole all the way up to the top, it gets too messy. I know this may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but most of us hate turnips so don't feel like you a have to feed an army.
2. Two half gallons of ice cream, one must be VANILLA, I don't care what the other one is. No store brands please. I did see an ad this morning for Hagan Daz Peppermint Bark Ice Cream, yum!! (no pressure here, though).
3. Toppings for the ice cream.
4. A case of bottled water, NOT gallons, any brand is ok.

The Bob Byron Family
1. Green beans or asparagus (not both) in a casserole with a lid and a serving spoon. If you are making the green beans, please prepare FOUR pounds, if you are making asparagus please prepare FIVE pounds. It is up to you how you wish to prepare them, no soupy sauces, no cheese (you know how Mike is), a light sprinkling of toasted nuts, or pancetta, or some EVOO would be a nice way to jazz them up.
2. A case of beer of your choice (I have Coors Light and Corona) or a bottle of clos du bois chardonnay (you will have to let me know which you will bring prior to 11/22).

The Lisa Byron Chesterford Family
1. Lisa as a married woman you are now required to contribute at the adult level. You can bring an hors d’ouvres. A few helpful hints/suggestions. Keep it very light, and non-filling, NO COCKTAIL SAUCE, no beans of any kind. I think your best bet would be a platter of fresh veggies and dip. Not a huge platter mind you (i.e., not the plastic platter from the supermarket).

The Michelle Bobble Family
1. Stuffing in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please make the stuffing sans meat.
2. 2.5-3 qts. of mashed squash in a casserole with a lid and serving spoon
3. Proscuitto pin wheel - please stick to the recipe, no need to bring a plate.
4. A pie knife

The June Davis Family
1. 15 LBS of mashed potatoes in a casserole with a serving spoon. Please do not use the over-size blue serving dish you used last year. Because you are making such a large batch you can do one of two things: put half the mash in a regulation size casserole with lid and put the other half in a plastic container and we can just replenish with that or use two regulation size casserole dishes with lids. Only one serving spoon is needed.
2. A bottle of clos du bois chardonnay

The Amy Misto Family (why do I even bother she will never read this)
1. A pumpkin pie in a pie dish (please use my silver palate recipe) no knife needed.
2. An apple pie in a pie dish, you can use your own recipe, no knife needed.

Looking forward to the 28th!!

Marney
Source: www. californiakara.blogspot.com

Doesn't it just make you feel normal???

News Update:

We found out a few weeks ago that CORT PASSED PHYSICS BOARDS!!!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord!

I couldn't capture the happy facial expression when opening the mail...so here's another happy face instead:

Halloween Weekend 2009

This has been the most gorgeous fall in the 6 years we've been in Memphis. Our mums were in bloom again....despite the fact we did nothing to help them along.

We had a great visit from Aunt Cami & Uncle Gabi--we call them Caroline's 3rd set of grandparents. Even though Cort was working part of the weekend, it was nice to have someone with whom to go to church.

It always makes me so happy when Cort comes home from the hospital! Poor guy has been working his tail off since July. I'm so proud of him.

Here are some pictures of our little bee this Halloween--keep in mind the little bee had a horrific pediatrician visit 20 hours before this--5 shots!

The menfolk took it upon themselves to show the little bee what it means to buzz around.

We took Caroline trick-or-treating around the neighborhood to visit the neighbors, and count ourselves lucky for not coming home with a bag full of candy! We probably just finished last year's stash a couple weeks ago.

I love this picture. Caroline's adoration for her father is very apparent...

October Beach Trip 2

We had some fun formal pictures at the beach. Our sweetie was a good little subject.

What you see below is a picture of a remorseful Elle....poor thing accidentally let go of Caroline & since Caroline's crawling/rolling skills were not developed at 5 months, she just kind of rolled off Elle & landed face-flat in the grass. Of course Elle felt horrible, but this is just such a cute & funny picture that I couldn't help but show it! Caroline was fine-- it almost looks like she's concerned for Elle in this picture.

It was the moms' opportunity to get the girls dressed in matching dresses & as you can see, they were good sports.

It was the most spectacular sunset-the perfect end to a pefect day!

October Vacation (Caroline's 1st Beach Trip)

This post is way overdue, but we had our annual Sommerville beach trip at the end of September/beginning of October & it was truly wonderful! We all concluded that this was, by far, the most beautiful time of the year to go to Kiawah Island--no kids, empty beach, superb weather. The girls were little sweethearts & we absolutely cannot wait until next year. 'Nuff said.


Click HERE if you would like to see more pictures of our vacation.

This is what we woke to every morning--(first picture is taken at high tide):

We were excited to take Caroline to the pool for the first time. She loved it! She splashed all over the place & laughed when she got water on her face. Before we knew it, she was on her belly in the water in no time.

This little hippo-water contraption belonged to Elle just a little while ago, but Elle was kind enough to share with Caroline.

Caroline also loved her time at the beach!

Sometimes she just wanted to chill under the umbrella--naps were preferred in the stroller, especially after a walk with Mom & Dad on the beach. But, Caroline did not like to sleep on the sand for some reason...

We quickly learned what it meant to go to the beach with kids...this is what happens....you become a pack mule....

It was also wonderful to eat meals and read out on the porch...something we have not able to do in the scorching heat of the Memphis summer.

Thank you Lewis & Carol for some fun memories. We feel really blessed to be able to come here!

SIX MONTHS OLD! And crawling....

I've been really behind on blogging, but I'm catching up. Unfortunately, posts are going to be a bit out of order....

Our little pumpkin turned six months old on October 29, 2009. She is in the 80th percentile for height & 65th percentile for weight.

And she's learned some mad skills...including saying "dadadadadada" over and over (should I be offended?) and as you can see below...she can sleep upright with her hands behind her head....yes, we know, worthy of a guest spot on Letterman.....(ha, ha)

And then of course there's crawling...not proficiently by any means, but going backwards & very often forwards without dragging herself.....it's like she completely skipped the comando stage.

One day I left her one place, a minute later I turned around & she was gone! Sure enough...a few minutes later, I saw her pick up her arms and place them in front of her....sort of like a little leapfrog, and then she pulled up her legs and did it one more time!

I took her to the pediatrician's office for a routine visit & was asking why it was that she wasn't sitting up much, but then, she sat right up when the pediatrician placed her upright. Turns out, the pediatrician said she doesn't WANT to sit up. She wants to be on the move....places to go, people to see, move along folks....

Here she is with her big "sister"....

And here mean ol' mom, was messing with her....giving her a target to aim for....

And of course, she is always ALL SMILES! We are having so much fun with our little half-year baby.

Grandpa Comes To Visit & Solids, The New Frontier

Mom & Dad got back from Italy and even though exhausted, Dad drove down to see his liitle beloved granddaughter for a marathon weekend trip! Caroline adores her Grandpa Mike. Here are some pictures from our weekend:

She protested bedtime....little smart cookie knew a non-parental unit would come rescue her from her crib so she could stay up a little later and watch the football game with Dad & Grandpa.

And we must touch on the other new skill--eating beyond liquids. To be fair....we really started with rice cereal on our beach vacation when Caroline was 5 months old. How do you think it went from the pictures below?

When we came back home, the solid eating took off like gangbusters....there isn't much our little one won't eat. Of course we did vegetables first.

Dad brought us some Michigan grapes & pears....

So I became inspired & put my Vitamix to work making baby food--something I have always wanted to do. It was fun! Below are carrots, green beans, peas, pears, and bananas.

I'm ready for more.....


And the milestones just keep on coming!